Lunae Ignis
by sweetstack
Summary: Lea and Isa's lives from ages seven to seventeen — anger, jealousy, and confusion. There's some understanding, but mostly there's acceptance. Isa/Lea


**Note** : I decided to try posting a few stories here from AO3 to see if I'd be interested in returning. This story was a collection of drabble-length chapters, but I've collected them together in one chapter. There's a work-in-progress sequel on AO3 (that I might end up posting here if I end up staying).

* * *

 _Meet (Ages 7+8)_

When Isa and Lea were young — still children; innocent and forgiving, whose repertoire of swear words consisted solely of the word "crap" — Lea's parents went away. Afterwards, Lea lived with Isa and his family. The two boys had to share a room, and every night, Isa would lie awake, listening to Lea's sobs. Isa's parents tried to explain to Lea that this wasn't a sleepover. Lea had shaken his head. Isa almost felt bad for the boy who couldn't accept that his parents weren't coming back. Every night, Lea's tears grew and grew until Isa was sure they could fill a lake.

At some point Isa finally cracked, and ignoring his greater instinct — which was to throw something at the other boy — he crawled into bed with him. He sighed and nearly regretted his decision, since Lea's pain was much more migraine-inducing while being right beside him, rather than across the room. Isa patted Lea awkwardly and said nothing. There was nothing to say; there were no condolences he could utter that would ever take the boy's pain away.

As an afterthought, Isa found himself whispering, "No regrets."

The two have been inseparable ever since.

* * *

 _School (Ages 7+8)_

On their first day of school together, a boy in their class made fun of Isa's hair. It's always been dark and blue, and no one else in the class had blue hair. The taunts never really bothered Isa, who had always let the obnoxious opinions of others float right past him. Why should he care what others thought about him?

The teasing bothered Lea, though. Lea pushed the kid over and was sentenced to lunch detention on his very first day of school. Isa was about to let Lea rot for his compulsive behavior, but when lunch-time rolled around, he ended up bringing Lea some pizza from the cafeteria.

"Idiot," Isa muttered as Lea smiled at him and ate his food. Isa couldn't say "thank you" because he hadn't asked Lea to stick up for him; he hadn't wanted him to. And yet he had, and in a far more vague and less embellished way, he admitted to himself that it was kind of nice.

* * *

 _Dropkick (Ages 10+11)_

The summer everyone started spontaneously drop-kicking everything in sight was the longest for Isa, because Lea fell victim to the craze. Lea even admitted it was stupid, but he couldn't deny the thrill. It was the summer all the bees began to disappear, too; as Lea waltzed across the yard, Isa counted the bees. Sometimes Lea would attempt a cartwheel, and, by the end of the summer, he was considered the master of the block.

Isa preferred the cover of night, but Lea's bright hair and jade eyes shone mesmerizingly in the sun, so Isa sat on the porch and watched. When the ice cream truck tinkered by, Lea always chased it down to buy the two of them ice cream. Afterwards, the redhead would hunker down next to Isa on the concrete steps; he was notorious for biting off huge chunks of his ice cream bars, then complaining about the inevitable brain-freeze. Isa never enjoyed the frozen treats as much as his friend did, but he savored the taste, regardless. It was important to Lea.

Even on the first day of summer break, they counted down the days. It was never enough time, no matter how they filled their days with Lea's exaggerated work-outs and their nights with long walks through the neighborhood. Soon, summer would end. Summer always ends.

On their nightly adventures, Lea would become bored with walking regularly. He started walking backwards; sometimes looking back at Isa, sometimes not. Occasionally he would jog ahead, then run back with his chest puffing and a smirk stretched across his face. The slow, monotonous pace Isa refused to break frustrated him. It was then that Isa realized Lea was not someone to be contained. He was a wild flame, after all. On the hot summer nights when they scoured the streets for the things one could not find during the day — craving the coolness of the night — Isa fanned him.

Down the street at the twenty-four-seven mini-mart, they bought slushies with their leftover ice cream money. Lea slurped his down and usually drank most of Isa's, too. Isa enjoyed slushies, especially with the hot weather of summer choking him, but even better than downing a cold drink was watching Lea toss his head back to scrape out the last of the slush with his straw.

* * *

 _Detention (Ages 12+13)_

The first thing Lea received when the school year commenced in the fall was a week of detention for disruptive behavior. Watching Lea dropkick a desk right in the middle of social studies was painful to watch and Isa had visibly cringed. Lea hadn't regretted it, but as he looked around the room at the faces of his classmates, he saw them — for the very first time — serious. When had school become so important to them?

Lea was always the class clown; he was the type of guy everyone couldn't help but like. He had the sort of energy that made people flock to him if they needed something done — distracting a teacher out of actually teaching, pulling the fire alarm to escape gym class, finding someone to do their homework for cheap — or simply a good laugh. Lea was admired, but he never really made friends outside of Isa. Isa repelled others from coming too close with his trademark scowl, but in his own way, Lea was naturally repellent, too. People looked at Lea as a tool of their own amusement: something to laugh at, not respect.

The two of them were a team, and if you couldn't pass Isa, you couldn't make it through to Lea.

* * *

 _Dance (Ages 13+14)_

The first year their grade was allowed to attend the school's seasonal dances, Lea took Isa shopping. Being their first solo shopping trip, Lea was nervous as Isa's parents dropped them off at the mall, but when they saw the sign of Lea's favorite store in the distance, he lit up. He thumbed through the clearance racks, the hangers clacking with each disapproval. The music was too loud and there were too many people in the small store, but Isa endured; he walked circles around his friend, absentmindedly examining stacks of shirts set against the far wall. Lea chose a pair of dark red jeans that flared into a bright red at the calves along with a gray-and-purple striped V-neck.

When Lea pulled his hair back to twist it up into a ponytail, Isa caught his breath. Lea nearly looked professional — something both uncommon and exotic for him.

* * *

At the dance, Lea sulked against the back wall of the cafeteria. The weeks leading up to the event had been full of excitement for the redhead, so Isa wasn't sure why Lea was avoiding the dance floor — he looked good; great, even. Isa hated every song that played and Lea knew it. Every time the DJ — who was the huge, daunting teacher of their P.E. class — switched to a new song or skillfully merged two with a remix, Isa would roll his eyes. These were the only times Lea smiled that night.

A knot of pain had been punching through Isa's skull the entire afternoon until, finally, almost like a dream, a song he loved swam through his ears. He blinked; it was a guilty pleasure song but one he enjoyed, nonetheless. Before he could start tapping his foot to the beat, his friend grabbed his arm and dragged him onto the dance floor. It was a dark corner of the room where curious eyes would have difficulty prying. The only occasional flashes of light were from the gleams of the cheap disco ball hung in the middle of the room.

Lea clasped their hands together, because outside of what he'd seen on television, he didn't quite grasp how two people danced. He knew of the "hip" and "shoulder" formations, but somehow that didn't seem right with Isa. Awkwardly, he paced their feet along the cafeteria floor, never leaving their corner.

Maybe Isa liked the song so much because it reminded him so much of Lea —"having so much to say." After this occurred to him, he couldn't look into his best friend's eyes for the rest of the night without zoning out his vision. Lea's eyes became splotches, and maybe if Isa squinted hard enough, they'd stop looking so beautiful.

* * *

 _Dates (Ages 15+16)_

No one Lea brought home was ever good enough for his best friend. Isa told him this with his eyes — cold and unrelenting in their glare. Eventually Lea stopped bringing anyone home at all. No relationship lasted very long, and while Isa was jealous of the attention they received, he knew his best friend would always return to him. Lea slept here; he ate here, he cried here.

Lea was attracted to what Isa called "bad company." They were the sorts of people who screamed an inevitable end from the very beginning. At first Isa thought he was truly oblivious — Lea was good; too good — but over time it became obvious that Lea craved this sort of attention. Lea loved to be broken.

Isa hated it.

After being protected by his friend for so many years, Isa wanted to return the favor. He just didn't know how.

* * *

 _License (Ages 16+17)_

A few weeks after Lea obtained his license was the first time he disappointed Isa. Isa had been working a part-time job after school, and Lea drove him home everyday. At least, that's what he was supposed to be doing; on that particular evening, Lea was nowhere to be seen. Isa sat on the bench where Lea always picked him up, still dressed in his starchy, uncomfortable uniform. It began to rain, and before long, his uniform clung to his skin. Still, he waited. He didn't move.

Long past sunset, Lea drove up. He turned off the engine and sighed; he may have been apologizing, but at first all Isa could see were the plump, pink swell of his lips, the way his shirt was pulled over one shoulder, and the purplish blotch staining his collarbone. His pants weren't even zipped up. His hair was even messier than usual, and he was wearing a pair of Isa's slip-ons.

The blue-haired teen vaguely noted the car door being flung open, and maybe his friend had been trying to coax him in. Isa cocked his head, stood, and began walking down the sidewalk in the direction opposite of home. He was conscious enough not to trip over a curb, but that was it; he was elsewhere.

Lea followed him in his car. He slammed his fists on the steering wheel and called out the window. Isa couldn't hear what he was saying.

When Isa finally relented and stepped into the car, the rain had stopped and his clothes were nearly dry.


End file.
